Romney campaign manager: Our focus is the economy

5/17/12 9:39 AM EDT

I asked Mitt Romney's campaign if it was weighing in on the Times story about a potential Rev. Jeremiah Wright ad blitz around the convention, and campaign manager Matt Rhoades responded:

"Unlike the Obama campaign, Gov. Romney is running a campaign based on jobs and the economy, and we encourage everyone else to do the same. President Obama's team said they would 'kill Romney,' and, just last week, David Axelrod referred to individuals opposing the president as 'contract killers.' It's clear President Obama's team is running a campaign of character assassination. We repudiate any efforts on our side to do so."

The statement essentially tries to put the onus on Chicago, without going into the specifics of this particular issue, and while staying with the message the campaign wants to run. Obama adviser David Axelrod tweeted early this morning questioning whether Romney would repudiate it.

Romney was asked by reporters traveling with him today to comment a short while ago, and responded initially that he hadn't read the papers.